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Determination of total reduced sulfur in natural waters 1
Author(s) -
Kijowski Wojciech,
Steudler Paul A.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1982.27.5.0975
Subject(s) - sulfur , chemistry , hydrochloric acid , hydrogen sulfide , sulfate , seawater , zinc , sulfide , raney nickel , digestion (alchemy) , chromatography , inorganic chemistry , hydrogen , organic chemistry , oceanography , geology
A method has been developed for determining small amounts of reduced sulfur in water (25–600 µ g S·liter –1 ) that is very specific and free from interferences. It is based on alkaline digestion of a sample using Raney nickel as a reductant. Hydrochloric acid is added to the digestion mixture to liberate hydrogen sulfide, which is trapped in a zinc acetate solution and then determined spectrophotometrically as ethylene blue. The method affords excellent recoveries for the reduced sulfur compounds tested. Sulfate and most sulfate esters do not interfere, so that the method is useful in seawater where sulfate is abundant.